There's something comforting about the War Walls. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems that no matter where in Paragon City I go, they're always a refuge. High above the city streets, out of sight from most of the passers-by and various criminals down below, lost in the hum and glow of the force walls, I could find a moments peace. It also helped that the walls were extremely cold at night, and that helped numb the pain I was feeling.
It had not gone well for me these last several hours. It all started when I heard the impossible: my teammate Oden All-Father had been slapped with a warrant for his arrest. I hadn't seen him in days. All I knew was that he was involved with some investigation involving the Crey Corporation and their activities. Norse God-complex or not, Oden wasn't the kind of guy to do the things he was being accused of. Oden and I had worked together many times. He was a hero as far as I was concerned.
Whatever Oden was looking into, Crey's Folly was the heart of it. I'd been rounding up Crey Agents for some time before I finally started getting the answers I wanted. If I had been a little smarter, I would have seen the set-up long before I walked into it. I flew in to take some Crey Agents into custody, when I felt searing fire on my back and right arm. I spun around in mid-air and hit the ground. I hadn't seen the snipers, but they saw me coming from a mile away.
Then they were all over me. I tried getting back into the air but my vector engine flight pack was damaged. I also noted to my horror that the armored casing on my right forearm was gone, and with it, my Medicom. I wasn't much of a hand-to-hand fighter, so I ran, trying to find cover from the sniper fire, with the Crey still in pursuit. But that idea failed as soon as I felt something tear through my right leg. I collapsed to the ground in pain right in front of one of the Agents, who drew her pistol and pointed it at my head. I knew that without my Medicom to teleport me to the hospital, I was a dead man, and there was nothing I could do to save myself considering the state I was in.
Imagine my surprise when I suddenly got moved to the top of a nearby building. I didn't get a good look at who did it, as my savior immediately leapt over me and down into the street where I had been previously. It was obvious that the Crey were no match for this stranger, who defeated them in short order with a style that I could only envy.
When the fight ended, my benefactor returned, and looked down at me. It was a woman, but I couldn't make out anything more than that basic shape in the darkness. I started to croak out a thank-you when she interrupted me.
"Go home."
I was taken aback by this, but she didn't give me a chance to say anything before she continued.
"I don't have time to go around bailing out people like you. I have enough to do to protect this city without babysitting little boys. I know who you're fighting against and why, and you have no idea what you're getting into. If you can't handle little threats like this, then you have no business being here. Now go home."
She turned around and teleported away without another word. I didnt even know who she was. Not knowing what else to do, I turned on my backup vector engine, and limped away into the night sky.
So that's how I got here: huddling against one of the huge War Wall pylons, trying to patch a hole in my flight pack. The pain of my injuries is slowly giving way to the sting of that woman's words to me.
Im not some wet-behind-the-ears punk hero wannabe! I didn't get this far because I had someone holding my hand! And yet, here I was, nursing my wounds and my ego like some kid whose team lost the little-league championships.
But looking down at my arm where my Medicom used to be, I have to admit that's not the only reason. My hands weren't shaking because I was cold. I could have died today. I could have crossed that line between being a hero and being a memory.
I'm not sure if I can go back out there again. I feel like every time my heart beats I'm holding my breath to see if it'll do it again. Some hero I've turned out to be, one scrape with death and I'm ready to run home and hide under my bed. Maybe you can only cheat death so many times and this was my last warning.
I broke my attention away from my flight pack, and looked up into the night sky. Naturally, my eyes drifted towards the most prominent thing there at the time: the Moon. How many times had Oden stared up at that thing? He always watched it whenever it came into the night sky, as if seeing something I couldn't. I thought back to one of the conversations we had.
"Ohm, tell me what you know of heroism."
I looked at him somewhat askance. He was always asking me the weirdest things. "I don't really think about it much. I suppose what we're doing is heroism, right?"
He shook his head. "No Ohm. Heroism isn't in victory or the cheers of the grateful. Anyone can wallow in accolades and rewards. Nor is it in defeating criminals and miscreants. A sociopath can run around sending villains to the hospital, but that doesn't make that person a hero. And a hero is not a warrior who feels no fear. A fool can be fearless, but will only rush headlong into struggles without any real understanding of its consequences."
"Let me guess: heroism is where you face off against your fears and overcome them, right?"
"Not precisely."
Once again, Oden had gone off in a direction I wasn't expecting. I pressed him further.
"What do you mean: not precisely?"
He looked at the moon again, as if checking to see it was still there, "If you face your fears, but never know defeat, have you truly been tested? You have yet to face something greater than yourself, and have not found reason to grow beyond what you are. It is in defeat that one finds heroism."
"That doesn't make any sense. How does getting your butt handed to you make you a hero?"
"Being defeated does not make you a hero. It is what you do after that determines what you are."
He looked down at me and his single eye bored into me more than I was comfortable with, "When you know that you are beaten, and you know that it is merely by chance or miracle that you live, that is where your courage is won or lost. Knowing that you may be beaten again, and perhaps be slain, and yet you stand to do battle once more. In your heart you know you cannot win, yet you fight on, the thought of allowing that foe to continue unchallenged, makes the risk meaningful enough for you to put your life on the line again."
I didn't know how to respond to that. He continued without a pause in his dissertation.
"Heroism is not always found in the roar of victory. Sometimes it is in the quiet voice that says: I will try again. Defeat, and how we respond to it, is the truest and most terrible test of all who claim to be heroes."
Damn the man. He was right, as usual.
So, what was I going to do? Go home? Or get back out there? My vector engine was working again. And I could still get a replacement Medicom at any time. I didn't even know if Oden really needed my help. For all I knew he could be back at the In Front Steakhouse, slamming back another drink. But did I want to take that escape from this situation? So it was all down to my choice, right here, right now.
I don't know how long I was there, but the red smear of the rising sun creeping over the War Walls told me it had been for a long time.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stood up and stepped off the wall, my vector engine flight pack kicking in to maintain my altitude, and I flew off towards the hospital. I had a Medicom to pick up.
I am the Mighty Ohm. I am a hero. I will try again.
Written by Rick Wheeler (the Mighty Ohm)
There's something comforting about the War Walls. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems that no matter where in Paragon City I go, they're always a refuge. High above the city streets, out of sight from most of the passers-by and various criminals down below, lost in the hum and glow of the force walls, I could find a moments peace. It also helped that the walls were extremely cold at night, and that helped numb the pain I was feeling.
It had not gone well for me these last several hours. It all started when I heard the impossible: my teammate Oden All-Father had been slapped with a warrant for his arrest. I hadn't seen him in days. All I knew was that he was involved with some investigation involving the Crey Corporation and their activities. Norse God-complex or not, Oden wasn't the kind of guy to do the things he was being accused of. Oden and I had worked together many times. He was a hero as far as I was concerned.
Whatever Oden was looking into, Crey's Folly was the heart of it. I'd been rounding up Crey Agents for some time before I finally started getting the answers I wanted. If I had been a little smarter, I would have seen the set-up long before I walked into it. I flew in to take some Crey Agents into custody, when I felt searing fire on my back and right arm. I spun around in mid-air and hit the ground. I hadn't seen the snipers, but they saw me coming from a mile away.
Then they were all over me. I tried getting back into the air but my vector engine flight pack was damaged. I also noted to my horror that the armored casing on my right forearm was gone, and with it, my Medicom. I wasn't much of a hand-to-hand fighter, so I ran, trying to find cover from the sniper fire, with the Crey still in pursuit. But that idea failed as soon as I felt something tear through my right leg. I collapsed to the ground in pain right in front of one of the Agents, who drew her pistol and pointed it at my head. I knew that without my Medicom to teleport me to the hospital, I was a dead man, and there was nothing I could do to save myself considering the state I was in.
Imagine my surprise when I suddenly got moved to the top of a nearby building. I didn't get a good look at who did it, as my savior immediately leapt over me and down into the street where I had been previously. It was obvious that the Crey were no match for this stranger, who defeated them in short order with a style that I could only envy.
When the fight ended, my benefactor returned, and looked down at me. It was a woman, but I couldn't make out anything more than that basic shape in the darkness. I started to croak out a thank-you when she interrupted me.
"Go home."
I was taken aback by this, but she didn't give me a chance to say anything before she continued.
"I don't have time to go around bailing out people like you. I have enough to do to protect this city without babysitting little boys. I know who you're fighting against and why, and you have no idea what you're getting into. If you can't handle little threats like this, then you have no business being here. Now go home."
She turned around and teleported away without another word. I didnt even know who she was. Not knowing what else to do, I turned on my backup vector engine, and limped away into the night sky.
So that's how I got here: huddling against one of the huge War Wall pylons, trying to patch a hole in my flight pack. The pain of my injuries is slowly giving way to the sting of that woman's words to me.
Im not some wet-behind-the-ears punk hero wannabe! I didn't get this far because I had someone holding my hand! And yet, here I was, nursing my wounds and my ego like some kid whose team lost the little-league championships.
But looking down at my arm where my Medicom used to be, I have to admit that's not the only reason. My hands weren't shaking because I was cold. I could have died today. I could have crossed that line between being a hero and being a memory.
I'm not sure if I can go back out there again. I feel like every time my heart beats I'm holding my breath to see if it'll do it again. Some hero I've turned out to be, one scrape with death and I'm ready to run home and hide under my bed. Maybe you can only cheat death so many times and this was my last warning.
I broke my attention away from my flight pack, and looked up into the night sky. Naturally, my eyes drifted towards the most prominent thing there at the time: the Moon. How many times had Oden stared up at that thing? He always watched it whenever it came into the night sky, as if seeing something I couldn't. I thought back to one of the conversations we had.
"Ohm, tell me what you know of heroism."
I looked at him somewhat askance. He was always asking me the weirdest things. "I don't really think about it much. I suppose what we're doing is heroism, right?"
He shook his head. "No Ohm. Heroism isn't in victory or the cheers of the grateful. Anyone can wallow in accolades and rewards. Nor is it in defeating criminals and miscreants. A sociopath can run around sending villains to the hospital, but that doesn't make that person a hero. And a hero is not a warrior who feels no fear. A fool can be fearless, but will only rush headlong into struggles without any real understanding of its consequences."
"Let me guess: heroism is where you face off against your fears and overcome them, right?"
"Not precisely."
Once again, Oden had gone off in a direction I wasn't expecting. I pressed him further.
"What do you mean: not precisely?"
He looked at the moon again, as if checking to see it was still there, "If you face your fears, but never know defeat, have you truly been tested? You have yet to face something greater than yourself, and have not found reason to grow beyond what you are. It is in defeat that one finds heroism."
"That doesn't make any sense. How does getting your butt handed to you make you a hero?"
"Being defeated does not make you a hero. It is what you do after that determines what you are."
He looked down at me and his single eye bored into me more than I was comfortable with, "When you know that you are beaten, and you know that it is merely by chance or miracle that you live, that is where your courage is won or lost. Knowing that you may be beaten again, and perhaps be slain, and yet you stand to do battle once more. In your heart you know you cannot win, yet you fight on, the thought of allowing that foe to continue unchallenged, makes the risk meaningful enough for you to put your life on the line again."
I didn't know how to respond to that. He continued without a pause in his dissertation.
"Heroism is not always found in the roar of victory. Sometimes it is in the quiet voice that says: I will try again. Defeat, and how we respond to it, is the truest and most terrible test of all who claim to be heroes."
Damn the man. He was right, as usual.
So, what was I going to do? Go home? Or get back out there? My vector engine was working again. And I could still get a replacement Medicom at any time. I didn't even know if Oden really needed my help. For all I knew he could be back at the In Front Steakhouse, slamming back another drink. But did I want to take that escape from this situation? So it was all down to my choice, right here, right now.
I don't know how long I was there, but the red smear of the rising sun creeping over the War Walls told me it had been for a long time.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stood up and stepped off the wall, my vector engine flight pack kicking in to maintain my altitude, and I flew off towards the hospital. I had a Medicom to pick up.
I am the Mighty Ohm. I am a hero. I will try again.
**GUARDIAN**
Assault Ohm - Elec/Sonic Corruptor
Deadly Ohm - Elec/Will Brute
Invisible Ohm - Elec/Eng Stalker
Master Ohm - Elec/Elc Dominator